Practicing Success

Target Exam

CUET

Subject

Fine Arts

Chapter

The Bengal School and Cultural Nationalism

Question:

What did Gaganendranath Tagore often portray in his caricatures?

Options:

Poor Bengalis and their plight by Britishers

Trade in British India

Rich Bengalis blindly following European style of living

Bengali traditional festivals in contrast to British festivals

Correct Answer:

Rich Bengalis blindly following European style of living

Explanation:

Answer: Rich Bengalis blindly following European style of living
Gaganendranath Tagore, in his caricatures, often made fun of rich Bengalis blindly following the European style of living. This reflects his critical perspective on the influence of European culture in India.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, if on one hand, pan-Asianism was gaining popularity, ideas about modern European art also travelled to India. Hence, the year 1922 may be regarded as a remarkable one, when an important exhibition of works by Paul Klee, Kandinsky and other artists, who were part of the Bauhaus School in Germany, travelled to Calcutta. These European artists had rejected academic realism, which appealed to the Swadeshi artists. They created a more abstract language of art, consisting of squares, circles, lines and colour patches. For the first time, Indian artists and the public had a direct encounter with modern art of this kind. It is in the paintings by Gaganendranath Tagore, brother of Abanindranath Tagore, that the influence of modern western style of paintings can be clearly seen. He made several paintings using Cubist style, in which building interiors were created out of geometric patterns. Besides, he was deeply interested in making caricatures, in which he often made fun of rich Bengalis blindly following the European style of living.